


Your Ed, Always (Stolen)

by sickdreamsaremadeofthis



Category: Ed Edd n Eddy
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, M/M, Sexual Identity, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-27 20:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1721948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sickdreamsaremadeofthis/pseuds/sickdreamsaremadeofthis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's supposed to the happiest day of Eddy's life but something has been eating away at him for a long time. He needs courage and honesty and being in touch with his feelings--things he's never had but that all of his future happiness probably depends on now that he has just a little bit of time left.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Ed, Always (Stolen)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [an amazing Joker](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=an+amazing+Joker).



> I do not own any of the characters or anything from or related to this cartoon. It just rocks my socks and maybe yours too, which is probably why you're reading. :P
> 
> ALSO: This story was written about 4 years back, as a gift to someone I truly loved and still appreciate very much. The sentiment will stand forever--I hope it's not bad that I decided to let others read this too.

Your Ed, Always (Stolen)

  It was Eddy’s birthday, which should have meant that it was the one day of the year where he was guaranteed to be happy. This year however, he had turned the arrangements over to his parents, who had been so excited for some reason about his turning eighteen--probably because they couldn’t wait to get rid of him, he thought. And naturally they had screwed things up royally.

  ‘I can’t trust them with anything,’ Eddy had thought several times as he openly glared at the hordes of relatives crowding his home. Eddy’s parents would have been considered by many people his age to be remarkably hip and cool. And the fact that they’d been determined to throw him the ‘birthday bash of the century’, which included inviting everyone they knew, would have probably been thrilling for any guy (or girl) other than him.

  The only thing he felt by the end of the party though was relief. Watching his many family members, neighbors and classmates file out of the house he felt like crowing with joy. The festivities had lasted for several hours. He’d been unable to deny feeling proud as most of his peers (for once) took turns complimenting him and telling him how cool everything was and how his parents really knew how to throw a party, but it had still been an exhausting ordeal that he was glad to see the end of.

  Admittedly, Eddy was normally a sucker for a good party, something he seemed to have inherited from his parents who were both born party animals. So what about today was troubling him, he wondered, looking at his two best friends who were the only remaining people in the house besides himself and his parents and older brother (who had driven all the way across the state to attend his party, a gesture that had flattered Eddy to no end although his brother's increasingly psychopathic behavior also made him all kinds of paranoid).

  Ed smiled back at him with the level of exuberance that only the truly ignorant exhibit. Eddy looked away from him, his gaze falling instead on Double Dee whose own gentle brown-eyed gaze felt as penetrating as ever. It was an uncomfortable feeling that he’d had since first meeting the other boy when they were very young--that feeling that when Double Dee looked at him he was able to dissect Eddy’s mind and pluck the thoughts right out of it, analyzing and judging them at will--and he’d never quite gotten over it. It made him feel funny inside: wriggly and sort of restless. He usually responded to it by glaring at Double Dee and manhandling him, and that was what he did now.

  “C’mon,” He said impatiently, pulling Double Dee to his room by his skinny wrist, and snapping his fingers so that Ed knew to follow.

  “Eddy, please.” Double Dee fussed, but Eddy had been expecting it so he let him go almost before he’d said anything.

  He was first into his room and was admiring the new stash of birthday presents he’d gotten, and barely heard Double Dee muttering behind him something about how ‘deplorable’ it was that their ‘behavior hadn’t changed at all since they were children’. He ignored it, being well-used to Double Dee’s wet-blanket attitude--that hadn’t changed at all either, he felt like saying just to be a smartass.

  He watched happily as Ed bounced around his room exclaiming at how cool and rad all of his new presents were, and begging to touch this and that thing-- “I won’t break it, Eddy, I promise!” Eddy glanced at Double Dee out of the corner of his eye and when he saw the firm, expectant expression on his face, nodded once in Ed’s direction with a superior air, as though Double Dee’s feelings on the matter hadn’t influenced him at all. “But be careful!” He said grouchily. “I swear I will break your head if you break any of my stuff.” He ignored Double Dee scolding him, and turned around, slamming his bedroom door closed with a satisfyingly loud _bang_.

  _This is what I wanted._ Eddy realized, savoring the peace and quiet. _I just wanted to spend my birthday with my two best friends. They’re the only ones who really care about me anyway. All those other kids that came here and ate my parents’ food and danced to their music and didn’t even talk to me except on their way in and their way out… they’re such fakes. I wish they hadn’t even come. I know they wouldn’t have if their parents hadn’t been here and made them come along too._

  Oh well. The good thing about having so many guests was that he’d gotten twice as many presents, he thought. He stared at Ed who had his nose pressed to the glass surrounding Eddy’s new plasma globe. Ed was fascinated by how the beam of light inside gravitated toward him in response.

  “Ed, be careful!” Double Dee said. “You could burn yourself!”

  “Oh, chill. It hasn’t been plugged in that long.” Eddy said, crossing the room to throw himself onto his large comfortable bed. He lay there, staring at the wall across from him, his back to his friends. He was thinking about how once when he and Ed and Double Dee were all around eight years old, they’d slept together in that bed one night. It had still been new then, and he’d only known Double Dee for a few months (he‘d been the last of the Eds to move into Peach Creek). They hadn’t come up with Double Dee’s nickname yet and kept on getting him confused with Ed. He thought about those days. How they’d all been so innocent. He kind of wanted to go back. _That’s a gay thing to think._ He told himself. _Besides, I’m thinking like an old-timer. ‘The good ol’ days.’ What a chump I am…_

  “Eddy, are you alright?” Double Dee asked. His voice was very soft.

  Eddy turned over and looked at him. “Yeah, I’m cool.” He said. He looked at Ed, who was moving his nose around on the globe. “Ed, knock it off! That’s disgusting.”

  “Sorry!” Ed said, grinning. He backed away from the globe and sat down on the floor, staring at it.

  “What are you doing _now_?” Eddy groaned. He was more amused than annoyed though.

  “It’s going to move!” Ed said. “I’m watching for it!”

  “No, Ed.” Double Dee explained gently. “It only moves when something disrupts its electromagnetic field. For example, when you put your nose against the glass the current was drawn toward the point of contact--”

  “Blah blah. Important-sounding scientific thing, blah.” Eddy teased, miming a flapping mouth with his hand. “Moral lesson nobody asked for, blah.”

  “ _Eddy_. That isn’t very nice.” Double Dee sniffed, looking away disdainfully.

  “Newsflash, sockhead. It’s not cool to be nice.” Eddy countered. He sat up and looked at Double Dee with scathing disbelief. “Honestly, are you just going to stand there or what?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I gotta spell it out for ya? You’re supposed to be a freaking genius.”

  “Are you inviting me to have a seat, Eddy?”

  “No duh.” “Thank you, Eddy.” Double Dee sat down in Eddy’s desk chair with all the dignity and snobbishness of a prince and Eddy snorted at him. They both sat there watching Ed watch the plasma globe, and Eddy wondered why he was so bothered that Double Dee had sat down all the way across the room. For most guys that was a normal behavior but Double Dee had grown out of his 'personal bubble' issue for a time and been practically on top of Eddy most of the time, only to go right back to his extreme space issues once they were teens--he was taking that space more than ever recently. It was kind of like that mixed signals thing that Eddy was used to a lot of girls doing, and he didn't know how to take it. Was Double Dee was mad at him or something?

  Ed broke the silence. “That was a cool party, you guys.”

  “It was okay.” Eddy said. He felt Double Dee looking at him so he said, “Thanks though.”

  Double Dee surprised him by asking, “Did you not have a good time, Eddy?”

  Eddy shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. For some reason he didn’t want to admit that it had sucked because it had taken away from his time with the two of them. What self-respecting macho guy said mushy crap like that? “Didn’t like the company.” He muttered, glaring out the window.

  It seemed very quiet in the room. Ed was typically oblivious but Eddy didn’t think that Double Dee was so he was getting freaked out.

  The phone rang, making them all jump.

  Ed looked away from the plasma globe, blinking dazedly. “It’s moving, you guys. It’s all around me…”

  “No, Ed. You’re experiencing what is called a Physiological Illusion, which is the effect on your brain of staring at the excessive stimuli of bright, moving lights. It’s caused by the repetitive stimulation of only one or a few channels, which causes a physiological imbalance that alters perception.”

  “Blah blah blah.” Eddy said, just to be nasty as he got up to answer the phone. He was wickedly pleased at the glare Double Dee shot in his direction and didn’t bother to hide it.

  “Hello?” He said. _Your mom_ , he mouthed to Ed, whose eyes grew huge. Ed always acted deathly afraid of his family for some reason. Whatever, he was weird.

  “Yeah, ok. I’ll tell him.” Eddy hung up the phone and told Ed, “She says it’s time to come home for dinner. _And_ , she says you can’t afford to waste time with your friends anymore because you have _chores_ to do _after_ dinner.” Eddy rolled his eyes. “Your mom’s a drag, Ed.”

  “I don’t want to go home.” Ed said glumly. “I don’t like it there.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t like it either. Your mom seems to think it’s your calling in life to be her workhorse--shut up, Double Dee.”

  “I didn’t say anything, Eddy.” Double Dee said, smiling so that Eddy had no doubt of what he’d been thinking.

  Ed sighed and got up from the floor. “I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” He said, shuffling toward the door. His eyes brightened suddenly. “Hey, maybe we can have another party tomorrow!”

  “Sure. We’ll have a get-rich-quick party. I can hardly wait.” Eddy said, shooing him out the door.

  “Hurray! A get-rich-quick party! I love those! …Double Dee, what’s a get-rich-quick party?”

  “He means a scam, Ed.” Double Dee sighed.

  “Oh. But… we do that every day, Eddy.”

  Eddy shut the door in his face.

  He turned and looked at Double Dee who was gazing at him calmly from his place at Eddy’s desk.

  “You leaving too?” Eddy asked bluntly.

  “Do you want me to?” Double Dee said casually, running a finger over the back of Eddy’s desk chair and then looking to see if it came back covered in dust; Eddy suspected that it did. He couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, that he’d dusted his desk chair.

  “Nah.” Eddy said, sitting down on his bed again. He stared at Double Dee, who stared back at him. “You should stay for a while.” He said. “I mean… if you want to.”

  “I’d like that.” Double Dee said softly. “It’s quiet at home.”

  “Yeah.” Eddy said. He didn’t know what to say to that. Talking about Double Dee’s family, or rather his persistent absence of family, was all kinds of awkward.

  Double Dee looked up suddenly and smiled a shy, sweet smile that Eddy rarely got to see. “I’m wondering if you have some type of wood-cleansing agent, Eddy? Perhaps you could play some Barry White and I could clean your room for you?” His smile widened, showing off the gaps between his otherwise perfect teeth.

  “If you want.” Eddy shrugged. He knew of course that few things thrilled Double Dee more than doing some good deep cleaning.

  “There’s some in the bathroom.” He pointed.

  “Excellent.” Double Dee said, getting up from his seat and heading in that direction.

  While he was in there Eddy rifled through his selection of albums. His stomach gave a weird fluttering as he pulled out his favorite of Barry White’s albums, ‘Can’t Get Enough.’ He’d always listened to that one a lot but he’d been doing so even more lately, and especially listening to the song ‘You’re the First, the Last, My Everything,’ over and over again. It just really _meant_ something to him these days. Maybe that was stupid.

  He was sitting there holding it and staring at the cover when Double Dee came out of the bathroom saying, “Oh, Eddy! I almost forgot! I still have to give you your present.”

  Eddy watched him walk across the room to pick up the satchel he carried around with him these days. He’d started carrying it a couple of years ago. Eddy liked to tease him by calling it his ‘man purse’.

  “Why didn’t you give it to me at the party?” Eddy asked.

  “I told you, Eddy, I forgot.” Double Dee said as he rifled through the contents of the bag. He emerged holding a book and smiling triumphantly. Eddy watched, unimpressed, as Double Dee walked up to him and held it out with a flourish. “Here you are, Eddy.” He said, acting almost shy again for some reason. “I hope you like it…”

  Eddy took the book and stared at it. “Love Unlimited: Insights on Life and Love.” He said dryly.

  “…By Barry White!” Double Dee exclaimed, sounding anxious. “It’s his autobiography…. I thought you’d like it.”

  Eddy shrugged, tossing the book aside. “It’s okay.” He said. “It’s just a book. You know I don’t like to read.”

  He picked up the album he’d been looking at and turned it over, reading the song titles. He loved this album, he thought. It was so tastefully done… As he was reading the list of songs that he’d read a thousand times before, Eddy suddenly became aware of something. It struck him like lightning through a lightning rod. Double Dee was still standing in front of him, and although only a few seconds had passed since their exchange, the silence between them felt heavy. Heavier than usual which was actually saying a lot, since things between them had become pretty tense as they’d grown up--the easy rapport they’d once had as children had somehow been tragically lost as they’d both gone through puberty, and it took Ed’s presence now to be a mediating factor. He didn’t even know why. But thinking about it now, and feeling that awful silence, and realizing that Double Dee had been so excited to give him his gift, had looked at him closely as though desperately seeking his approval, and had maybe even waited until after the party intentionally because he wanted it to be more personal… this uncommon flash of empathy and understanding hit him with unsettling force, and he looked up at his friend warily, knowing that his suspicions were true when he saw the expression on Double Dee’s face.

  Double Dee seemed startled when Eddy looked at him, like he hadn’t actually been expecting Eddy to turn his attention to him. Instantly he smiled, but it looked forced. Eddy knew that smile well. It was the smile that Double Dee used for the adults in his life. The ones who were always asking where his parents were.

  “Silly me, just standing around when there’s work to be done.” Double Dee scolded himself with an awkward laugh, starting to turn away.

  Eddy put the album down and picked the book up. He held it with both hands. “It’s great.” He said.

  Double Dee looked at him.

  “I mean it.” Eddy said awkwardly. “It’s… it’s amazing. I really like it.”

  “Eddy, you don’t have to lie. And you’re right, I know you don’t like books. I don’t know what I was thinking when I got you a book--”

  “Probably something adult and boring like, ‘Oh, let’s encourage Eddy to read more, it’s such an important life skill that he hasn’t developed enough.’” Eddy said mockingly. His tone was light though, and he knew Double Dee would realize he wasn’t trying to insult him--at least he hoped that he would realize it. Sure enough, Double Dee started to make a clever and sarcastic retort, which was characteristic of the easy banter they had once shared, and a clear sign that all was well between them.

  Eddy interrupted him though, saying, “Look, I’m not lying, sockhead. I really do like it. I just… I guess I was just being an asshole.” He said honestly.

  Double Dee quirked a small, hesitant smile as though he was trying not to laugh. Eddy looked down at the book and felt weird again. He thought about how much thought Double Dee must have put into the gift. It was popular knowledge that Eddy admired Barry White, but nobody else would have thought to get him something like this. And certainly not any of the other guys from school, even Ed who knew him well--well, especially not Ed. He just didn’t have all of the lights on upstairs. This book, though. It meant that Double Dee cared about him. Eddy felt weird thinking about that.

  “I actually like to read a lot more than I used to.” He admitted, flipping through the pages.

  “I know.” Double Dee said quietly.

  “You do?”

  “Eddy, I ran into you in the library just a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Oh yeah… So. So what. I could have been researching something for school.” Eddy pointed out.

  “No. You would have complained about it to me before that. You always tell me about your school projects.” Double Dee said.

  “Oh. I guess you’re right.” He looked up at Double Dee who was still standing over him; it was starting to feel awkward. “Um…”

  Double Dee sat down without being asked, next to him on the bed this time. “Thank you for inviting me, Eddy.” He said, his arm brushing Eddy’s. “I can’t remember if I said that or not…”

  “Yeah, you did. When you came in.” Eddy said. “And of course I invited you. You’re my best friend.”

  “One of them.” Double Dee corrected. “What?” “I’m one of your best friends.”

  When Eddy gave him a clueless look, Double Dee raised his eyebrows and said, “ _Ed_ , Eddy. You’re forgetting about him?”

  “Um, no. I’m not. He’s not my best friend though. You are.” When Double Dee looked shocked Eddy looked away, a fierce blush coloring his already-naturally-flushed features.

  “But growing up we always said…”

  “That was then and this is now.” Eddy said bluntly. “Look… it’s nothing against Ed. I think of us as really close. But… I just don’t feel the same way about him that I do about you.” He turned scarlet as he realized how that sounded. “Look, that came out wrong. Forget it. I’m bad at this mushy stuff.”

  “Eddy.” Double Dee said, turning and putting a gentle hand on his elbow. “Thank you. It means a lot. No one ever said anything so nice to me before.”

  Eddy looked into his eyes and Double Dee looked back at him, smiling earnestly. The silence between them grew heavy again. Eddy swallowed hard past the lump in his throat and Double Dee began to look unsure of himself. Eddy looked down at Double Dee’s hand, which was still resting on his arm. He put his hand over Double Dee’s, meaning to gently remove it, but his hand just wanted to stay there so he let it.

  He looked back up at Double Dee, whose own cheeks were a little flushed now. There was a look in his warm brown eyes that Eddy had never seen before. It was… need. A need for something. And insecurity. He needed something but was afraid to ask for it.

  _Aren’t we all_. Eddy thought. He had a really stupid urge then and his heart started pounding from anxiety. He could feel his hands beginning to sweat but he didn’t let go of Double Dee’s hand, just squeezed it tighter.

  “So…” He said. Anything to fill the silence… “You uh… waited until two weeks ago to get my gift? That’s not like you.”

  “I wasn’t sure what I should get you. We’re not kids anymore. It used to be so easy. Jawbreakers.” Double Dee laughed nervously. He looked down at their interlocked hands and Eddy followed his gaze. “Besides, I wanted this year to be special. We’re not going to see each other after this… I guess you didn’t like what I got you after all, though.”

  “No, I liked it.” Eddy told him. He thought about how they were sitting there, two grown men, holding hands.

  Sitting on his bed, alone, holding hands. He was holding hands with another guy. It felt amazing.

  “I always wondered…” Eddy started. And then he stopped, feeling stupid.

  “What, Eddy?” Double Dee encouraged him.

  “It’s stupid.”

  “Oh. Well. Only if you don’t feel comfortable sharing…”

  “It’s just. I used to wonder, when we were kids. What it would feel like to do this. You know?” Double Dee looked confused and Eddy felt aggravated.

  “Do what? Talk?”

  “No, dummy. To… hold your hand.” He said in a rush, both relieved and embarrassed by the confession.

  Double Dee’s eyes widened. “You did?”

  “Yeah.” Eddy couldn’t meet his eyes. He kept on talking. It was easier now to just get it out. “I wondered what it felt like to kiss you too. I used to think about that all the time.”

  “Kiss…me?” Double Dee squeaked. He looked shocked at the idea of anyone wanting to kiss him. He looked… cute. Impossibly cute.

  “Yeah.” Eddy said. “I wanted to… kiss you--and stuff. You know…”

  Double Dee turned red from the roots of his hair to his collar. “That’s why… when Kevin ‘made me’, I didn’t really mind. It was a good excuse for something I’d already been wanting to do.”

  Double Dee was quiet for a long minute and when he finally spoke it was in a timid whisper that went right to Eddy’s heart. “Do you still feel that way?” He asked, not looking at Eddy.

  “What do you think?” Eddy asked. “I’m sitting here holding your hand.”

  Double Dee looked at him. The hope shining in his eyes took Eddy’s breath away. “It’s so gay.” Eddy continued. “Do you think I do this with just any guy?”

  “I probably wasn’t a very good kisser then…”

  “Are you kidding?” Eddy laughed shakily. “You were great. To this day, that kiss… Well, it was the best experience of my life.”

  Double Dee was looking at him very closely. Eddy was getting that feeling again. The one that felt like Double Dee could see everything inside of him. Everything good and evil that he’d ever harbored in his heart. But that look wasn’t judging at all. It felt more like love.

  “Just to be… entirely honest.” Eddy rambled. Double Dee was being so quiet that he felt more and more uncomfortable. He’d always been able to see inside Eddy’s heart, but… Eddy had never been able to see inside of his.

  “I didn’t think…” Double Dee whispered. Eddy’s throat tightened when he saw how bright Double Dee’s eyes were. “…that you could ever feel the same way.”

  Slowly he leaned in and put his mouth on Eddy’s, and Eddy closed his eyes and breathed into the gentle touch. He kissed him back, tenderly. It was over too quickly. They sat there looking at each other, Double Dee smiling this soft, sweet smile and glowing all over. And Eddy… his heart felt like it would never recover. He couldn’t even think of smiling.

  “I said I’d clean your room, didn’t I?” Double Dee said, as though nothing had happened. He stood up and stretched.

  “I love you.” Eddy blurted. It felt like the words had been torn out of him. _God, how he **loved** him_ …

  Double Dee sat down again as though someone had struck him. “W…what?” He asked. His face was pale. “What, what’s the big deal? I just said what we’d been hinting at, why are you acting like it’s weird now?” Eddy said, irritated because he was suddenly afraid that Double Dee would reject him.

  Double Dee looked at him and smiled shakily. “Oh, no reason.” He said. “It’s just that no one ever said that to me before.”

  “…”

  Double Dee got up again and went into the bathroom, and came out a moment later with a bottle of Citra-Kleen. Eddy had put the record into his record player and turned it now to “You’re My First, the Last, My Everything.”

  As Double Dee covered a paper towel with a good portion of cleanser, Eddy told him, “I didn’t have a good time at the party because I just wanted to spend my birthday with you.”

  And Double Dee smiled a bright, loving smile at him that Eddy was quite sure no one but him had ever seen before.

  _The one day of the year when I’m guaranteed to be happy… maybe that’s true._ Eddy thought wistfully, watching him clean. _But what will I do when he goes away? I can’t… I don’t want to live without him._

  He said it out loud. “I don’t want to live without you.”

  Double Dee looked at him with understanding. “I’m right here,” he said softly.

  Eddy watched his hand moving over the wood surface of his desk, of his chair. Thought of all the days he’d watched him clean and do other stupid, mundane things that he’d never appreciated before. And it was all drawing to a close now, because they were going their separate ways. Attending different schools, pursuing different careers. Double Dee could say he was right there, but in the end he would leave Eddy…

  “I won’t…” Double Dee said.

  “What?” Eddy asked. He felt a chill go through him.

  Double Dee smiled. “I’m not going to leave you, Eddy. That’s what you’re thinking, right? That just because we’re not going to be living across the street from each other anymore that that means we can’t see each other?”

  Eddy gaped at him. “Stop being creepy!”

  Double Dee rolled his eyes. “Oh please, Eddy. As if ascertaining your fears was some great accomplishment… you’re practically transparent!”

  “I am not!” Double Dee put down his rag. He crossed the room and sat down next to Eddy. He looked seriously into his eyes. “Yes, you are.” He said.

  Eddy gulped. “Okay.”

  Double Dee’s expression softened again. “I’m not going to leave you.” He repeated. “…How could I? Eddy, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

  “Promise?” Eddy said stupidly.

  Double Dee leaned in and kissed him again, a lighter and quicker kiss that affected him no less strongly. _“What do you think?”_ He teased. _“This is so gay. Do you think I kiss every guy like this?”_

  Eddy growled and tackled him, leaning over top him and tickling his ribs. “Oh! Eddy, don’t! I ha-ate that!” Double Dee gasped, thrashing wildly. Eddy rolled off of him and lay on his side, watching as he recovered his breath. “You’re such a wuss, sockhead.” He said, watching Double Dee’s chest rise and fall. Double Dee looked at him and Eddy was struck for the thousandth time by his beauty, and wondered where the hell Double Dee’s parents were that was so great that they didn’t have any time for the most amazing person in the world.

  “You’re amazing.” He said.

  Double Dee laughed at him. “Blessings and curses in the same breath.”

  “What?” “Nothing. Never mind.” He sat up, his smile fading. He showed Eddy his vulnerable face then--the face Eddy was pretty sure that _he_ had never seen before. “I don’t want to go home.” He said hollowly. And where there had been exasperation in Ed’s tone with that statement, there was pain in Double Dee’s.

  All the pain in the world, there in his voice and his eyes.

  “Then don’t.” Eddy said. “Stay with me.”

  “Are you asking me to live with you, Eddy?” Double Dee asked teasingly; there a was a note of real longing in his voice though that Eddy didn’t miss.

  “Yes.” Eddy said. When Double Dee looked at him doubtfully Eddy said, “What’s stopping us? We can do whatever we want. We’ll get an apartment together, between your school and mine. Neither one of us will ever have to be alone. And _I’ll take care of you._ ” His voice turned fierce and he broke off, embarrassed.

  “Are you talking about having a relationship?” Double Dee’s voice was very small. Eddy hated that question for some reason.

  “I don’t know…” he said. “Yeah.” He blushed. Why did everything have to be so awkward? Love when it happened was never like it was in the movies.

  “I’d like that.” Double Dee said.

  Eddy looked at him in surprise. He smiled, and rolled onto his back, lacing his hands together underneath his head. “Well, good.” He said smugly, looking up at the ceiling. His view of the broad white expanse of ceiling laced through with endless cracks was replaced with one of Double Dee’s sweetly smiling face as he climbed over Eddy.

  “You always get your way, don’t you Eddy?” He joked.

  “I’m lucky that way.” Eddy said. He put his arms around Double Dee and his tone changed from teasing to tender. _“Really lucky.”_ He said.

  Double Dee kissed him--the fourth time in his life that had happened. And he’d never thought after the first time that it would happen again. Had never imagined that he would experience a kiss that perfect as anything but stolen.

  How wrong he had been.

**Author's Note:**

> Note on 'how guys relate romantically to one another': I realize that Eddy seems to imply toward the end when he offers to take care of Double Dee that it could be read as him perceiving that he doesn't view his friend as self-sufficient. That's not true, but what he said stems from his insecurity about the shifting nature of their relationship and Double Dee who knows him well would know that. Within the story it did not need to be addressed. This note was just for clarification purposes.
> 
> Also, I know I changed the age when Double Dee moved into the cul-de-sac and met his besties. The whole 'age 2 boy wonder' thing seemed too much for me. I opted for realism.
> 
> I will answer any other questions a person might have, as long as they are polite.
> 
> I might write a sequel to this, but I'm not sure. It depends on several factors; mainly time, motivation & inspiration, and what the reception is like for this first one.
> 
> Please do REVIEW, even if it's short, or just click the 'kudos' button if you liked it; I really appreciate it, thank you.


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